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Your new movie Ganymede
- in a few words, what's it about?
Colby & Sam: It’s about the son of a smalltown politician who develops feelings for
his openly gay classmate and then begins to be stalked by a grotesque
creature that inhabits his closet.
While Ganymede
is basically a violent coming-of-age romance, it also has creature feature
elements sprinkled in - now how did you come up with that quite unusual
blend? Colby: I think in response to the rise in extreme rhetoric around the LGBTQ
community we started thinking–what if because of the world view you
were raised in caused you to perceive your own queer desire as an evil
entity afflicting you and your family? How would it manifest? (Other) sources of inspiration when writing
Ganymede,
and is any of it based on personal experiences? Colby
& Sam:There is a little bit of both of us in Lee and Kyle, and elements of our
family life and our youth in other parts–nothing is exact to our
experience, but this is certainly the most personal work we have taken on
thus far. There is also a heavy dose of the Southern Gothic genre that we
had a lot of fun playing with. With Ganymede
being a bit of a genre clash, how would you describe the overall tone of
the movie? We think the tone of this film is actually pretty realistic and true to
life. The genre elements serve the narrative and the themes, but at its
heart this is a disturbing slice-of-life piece. For all the horror fans among my readers, you
just have to talk about the creature in Ganymede
for a bit, and how was it achieved, and how much say did you have or
demand in its creation?
We worked with the wonderful special effects artist Anthony Kosar and the
team at Kosart Studios. We worked very closely to come up with this
creature–we wanted it to have almost a fetal look to represent the
evolution and journey into Lee being his full self. We also wanted to nod
at some of the elements of gay life that scare those unfamiliar with it
and oftentimes that is leather iconography. So we put him in boots,
leatherwork, and chains in the form of a harness. A few words about your
directorial approach to your story at hand!
Grounded, we had to ride the line between realism and horror and that
realism is actually what I think makes our film scary and timely. We also
wanted there to be style to the look of the film, using the environment
and cinematography to evoke that Southern Gothic feeling and create
interesting tableaus. What was your collaboration like
co-directing Ganymede?
We are husband and have been together for 12 years! This is a
collaboration in every sense of the word. Colby writes, we direct
together, and Sam edits the film. We are involved with each other at every
stage of the process, and it literally lives in our house with us. Couldn't
do it without each other and we are constantly grateful we get to do this
work together. We often say the movies come out the way they do because we
did them together. There is some sort of special alchemy that happens to
form our joint vision. There is always the other person to bounce your
ideas off of. We like that it isn't a solitary experience. We love the
fact we get to share our successes and commiserate over our failures.
Ganymede
wasn't the first time you've worked with one another - so what can you tell
us about your previous collaborations, and how did you first meet even? We met at a country western gay bar in Chicago called
Charlie’s at 2AM
on a Monday–we have been together ever since. Our previous
collaborations have each been wonderful and unique and each one of them
was an evolution from the last. It’s amazing to be working together over
a number of years and see how each of us have grown and then test what we
can accomplish with the next project. Onward and upward! Do
talk about Ganymede's
key cast, and why exactly these people?
We chose the cast and put it together the way we did because we needed an
ensemble that understood how to play this with groundedness, sincerity,
and believability. Each cast member understood the assignment and
delivered. Our casting director Matthew Glasner was key in bringing us
this level of talent and guiding us to the best possible combination of
actors for this piece. What can you
tell us about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
When you are dealing with such emotionally taxing material like this we
have to keep the atmosphere light on set which we did. You often hear
about horror films “Oh it was such a fun set!”, and this was the case
for us too. You’ve just got to, we also had a lot of fun with the SFX
and make-up, it led to some funny and fun moments, particularly anytime
Pete Zias was on set as the decaying Neal.
Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Ganymede?
People seem to be connecting with our film, it’s become clear there is a
hunger for queer horror and we are more than happy to indulge it. The
critical reception has been overwhelmingly positive which is always a
treat, but our real hope is that this climbs into people's homes and creates
conversations where they may need to be happening, particularly in rural
and Southern America. Any
future projects you'd like to share?
We have a couple projects in the pipeline, as they say. We will continue
to focus on modern American life and touch on the experiences of queer
Americans. Excited for when we can talk about our next projects! What got you into
filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal education on
the subject? We have always both had a passion for film, Sam grew up making movies with
his family home video camera and then went on to a formal education at
film school at the Illinois Institute of Art here in Chicago. Colby came
from the world of speech and debate, theatre, and screenwriting before
meeting Sam. The most formal education Colby had was from writing teacher
Michael McCarthy at iO here in Chicago. What can you tell us about your filmwork
prior to Ganymede? Our most recent feature film was a work of contemporary realism called
Pig Hag, and it premiered at SXSW in 2019 and is widely available to stream!
Very different from Ganymede,
but I bet you could still tell it was one of ours.
How
would you describe yourselves as directors?
This feels like a trick question! We hope folks would describe us as
collaborative, thoughtful, and encouraging. We fully believe that actors
and department heads need the room to do their job, and it’s our
responsibility to make sure it’s all cohesive and serves the tone and
story and themes. It’s our job to have a vision and to be able to
explain it to the experts we hire to bring it to life on screen. Filmmakers
who inspire you? Between us Mike Nichols, Darren Aronofsky, Sean Baker. Your favourite movies?
The Birdcage, Black Swan,
The Florida Project. ...
and of course, films you really deplore?
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Nice try! We don’t throw stones in glass houses, haha. It’s so hard to make
a film we commend anyone who can accomplish it. Your/your
movie's website, social media, whatever else?
Find us on Instagram at @ganymede_movie! Our personal Instagrams
are @samprobst and @colbysaycheeseplease Anything
else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
Thanks for talking with us!! We hope this film can be an opportunity for
folks to see themselves reflected on screen, feel less alone, and are able
to explore this issue through the lens of our film and come away on the
other side changed for the better. Thanks
for the interview!
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